The Foreclosure Shame

The banks continue foreclosures as if the country is doing well. They treat nonpayment of mortgage installment as an irresponsible act on the part of the house owner or just a unlucky turn of events in the life of a few other owners.

Sadly, this is an unrealistic, cruel and largely self defeating practice in the financial crisis we live in. Ironically, the banks themselves suffer from total collapse due to their own irresponsible and arrogant actions. Somehow, our government is immune to the irony and while they rush time and again to rescue the banks from their proper burial, it doesn't as much as scratch their noses to prevent massive foreclosures.

The level of stupidity the banks manifest is reflected by the reality that their insistence on foreclosures is totally unrewarded since most foreclosed properties are abandoned and deteriorate slowly towards worthlessness without the banks regaining even a portion of their loan.

Below are some examples of the results of the current foreclosure policy practiced by banks

In her Venetia Groves community in Homestead, vandals have targeted vacant homes -- a trend on the uptick as the homeowners' association no longer can afford to operate guard gates. More than half of the neighborhood's homes are facing foreclosure.

There are approximately 1,000 foreclosed homes in the City of Surprise. These properties are located throughout the city and affect virtually every neighborhood. The foreclosure crisis is a nationwide problem that will likely continue until the overall economy improves, credit markets soften, and the housing stock begins to adjust. Until this occurs, the City of Surprise must be as proactive as practical to stabilize neighborhoods with a number of strategies.

FORECLOSURES can be costly, not just to borrowers and lenders, but to neighbors as well.

HOME Foreclosures often look less than pristine; this one is in Mount Vernon
“If I were buying my condo again and saw what’s across the street now, I’d never move in,” said Flora Caivano, who has lived in Fleetwood, one of Mount Vernon’s most sought-after neighborhoods, for 15 years. “It’s starting to look like the city dump around here.”

The long bread lines at Faith Lutheran Church in Lehigh Acres near Fort Myers, Florida are a painful indication of how grave the foreclosure crisis has affected the lives of many Americans. In many bank foreclosures in the area, homeowners are packing the basic things that they need and setting aside the more valuable items for sale in order to have some money for their children's needs.

There is no doubt that the picture is grim. There is no doubt that the banks' policy does them very little good. Although cities, communities and congress have allocated some funds to alleviate the catastrophe, overall the government has turned its back to the people.

For a Democratic government ignoring the suffering of a large number of people due to an idiotic policy is nothing short of a shameful abandonment and arrogance.